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Senior Custodian

Please Note: The application deadline for this job has now passed.

Role Introduction

The Sunday Custodian will be required to assist the custodial staff in fulfilling their duties and responsibilities, to coordinate with Eton security staff and curators to ensure the smooth and secure operation of the Sunday openings, and to deliver the best possible experience for visitors to the Eton museums and galleries on Sunday afternoons. You will have a good working knowledge of the museum collections and have the opportunity to create engagement materials for Sunday visitors. You will be coordinating a team of seven people covering the three museums and seven people covering the three galleries. Some flexibility in working times and the ability to participate in particular events such as Family Learning Events would be an advantage.

In practice this post will involve:

  • Managing a staff team of 14 Museum Custodians and Gallery Invigilators, 7 of whom will be on duty each Sunday. This will include assisting in recruitment, induction, training and reviews as necessary
  • Managing rotas to ensure adequate staff cover at all times
  • Liaising with the Curators and Keepers of the Museums and Galleries as necessary to ensure a seamless approach to Sunday openings
  • Leading the custodian and invigilator teams so as to:
    • Enhance visitor experience
    • Maximise opportunities for profile raising and promotion of the Sunday public openings
    • Coordinate the custodian team in the creation and delivery of learning and interpretation materials
    • Ensure that public areas are safe, secure, well-maintained and well-presented.
  • Supervising the operation of the galleries and museums during Sunday opening hours
  • Interacting positively with visitors of all ages
  • Carrying out administrative and maintenance tasks around the gallery

The Ideal Candidate

Person specification

Essential qualities are:

  • Responsible, organised, and proactive
  • A good understanding of spoken and written English
  • Ability to operate as part of a team and able to work together with the Curator and other members of the College Collections team to oversee the museums and galleries, their activities and their resources
  • Able to interact with visitors and speak with clarity, confidence and enthusiasm about objects on display in the museums and galleries
  • Good communication skills
  • Good time management, prioritisation and problem-solving skills
  • Commitment to delivering excellent customer service
  • Commitment to ethos of Eton College
  • IT skills including Microsoft Office

Desirable qualities are:

  • Experience of managing rotas
  • Experience of leading, motivating, and developing teams
  • Experience of working in a museum, gallery or heritage environment
  • An enthusiasm for history, art or other subject relevant to the content of the Eton College Collections

Benefits

We are seeking to recruit a Senior Custodian to lead our team of museum custodians and gallery invigilators. The custodians and invigilators are responsible for the opening of the college’s museum and gallery spaces and supervise their safe and secure operation on Sunday afternoons throughout the year. The working hours are 5 hours per week, with 3 hours worked on Sunday afternoons and 2 additional hours across the week as agreed on most weeks. There may be flexibility on the hours to be worked per week, but would ideally include at least three Sunday afternoons per month.  The exact hours and weeks to be worked will be by arrangement with the line manager. 

Start date: As soon as possible, subject to satisfactory pre-employment checks.

Background

Eton College was founded by King Henry VI in 1440 for 70 King’s Scholars. In addition to the King’s Scholars housed in ‘College’, there are now 1,240 ‘Oppidan’ boys at the school in 24 other boarding houses.

There are 155 full time academic staff and 600 other permanent staff including domestic staff (in the boarding houses and in the central dining hall), technicians, grounds-men, administrative staff, security, cleaners and a large buildings department. There are also 100 part-time and visiting teachers, including visiting music teachers. The school and its immediate grounds and playing fields extend over 400 acres from the north end of Eton High Street to the M4 by Slough, bounded to the east by the Thames and to the west by a railway. There are some 400 school buildings, including staff accommodation and a 2,000m rowing lake at Dorney. There is non-stop maintenance of buildings and grounds.

Eton College has three museums and three galleries which are open to the public on Sunday afternoons, and attract families in their education and engagement work with schools and other audiences. We are recruiting a Senior Custodian to lead the team of custodians and invigilators who open these spaces to the public on the Sunday afternoons.

Eton Museum of Antiquities, Jafar Gallery

The Eton Museum of Antiquities is housed in the Jafar Gallery and comprises a world-class collection of Egyptian artefacts in addition to objects from Australia to Afghanistan and from Peru to Babylon.

The Museum of Eton Life

The Museum of Eton Life explores the history and traditions of life at Eton, past and present, through displays using costume, objects and ephemera.

The Natural History Museum

The Eton College Natural History Museum is Berkshire’s only dedicated natural history museum and houses over 15,000 specimens exploring both local and global flora and fauna, donated from the nineteenth century onwards.

Millington-Drake Gallery

In this gallery, Seven Halts on the Somme by Hughie O’Donoghue RA is on permanent display. This series of seven large-scale paintings, completed in 2014 following O’Donoghue’s time as artist in residence at the college, recalls seven stopping points where troops were halted on the Somme battlefields during the First World War. The gallery will be opened to the public on Sunday afternoons on a seasonal basis, from late September 2019 to late April 2020.

Austen-Leigh Gallery

This gallery, which leads to the Millington-Drake Gallery, displays heraldic stained-glass windows by Thomas Willement (1786-1871), ‘the father of Victorian stained glass’. The gallery will be open to the public on Sunday afternoons on a seasonal basis, from late September to April.

Verey Gallery

Opened in 2011, this gallery hosts temporary exhibitions which can be viewed by the Eton community, local school groups and other visitors. The current exhibition The Eton Choirbook: an exhibition celebrating Eton MS 178 and its inscription on the UNESCO UK Memory of the World Register is open until 8th March 2020. The gallery will be open to the public on Sunday afternoons except for short periods during deinstallation and installation of exhibitions.

Please note:  Interviews and assessments are planned to take place on the week commencing 10th and 17th February.

About the College

Eton College is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, and applicants must be willing to undergo child protection screening appropriate to the post, including checks with past employers and an Enhanced Disclosure from the Disclosure and Barring Service. We are an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applications from all sections of the community.

Eton College

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